Ducati Sporting Club UK - The Otei Report: Long Way Down

I'd been dreading the journey to Pembrey since the start of the year. I hate travelling at the best of times...unless it's to sunnier climes that is.

The worst thing about it, was that my age appears to have been creeping up on me recently, and I've had a really bad back...WTF?...I'll be needing my backside wiped by a nurse at each round in a few years. Jeeez.

Anyway, me and my partner in crime, Kato trucked down in the Ultimate Finish van again, but this time there was no annoying rumble from the wheels. Bliss. The trip was pretty smooth though,and we arrived just in time to see the second DD race and Mr Shep sauntering his way to another win. It seemed as though a couple of cats had upped their pace though, with Brian Alexander and his Kinsman Steve Mason trying to trouble the gilled Gunrunner from Robin Hoods crib. Will Charters set the fastest lap however, with a low 1:09.

We'd brought a Spag Bol with us, and sat down to eat with Uncle Chas that evening. We managed to avoid getting any childrens underwear in our pasta, which was something of a miracle, because it appeared that Craig Fischer's Campervan had started to create it out of thin air..to the point that it covered Jimbers' car, laid a trail out of campervans and generally made a panty nuisance of itself.

While we were enjoying a beer and a chat with our dinner, Chris P texted me from his hotel, blathering on about how his food and booze was ace and the porn channel was the best one since he had Gay TV installed at home.

We just crammed more bolognaise into our rubber outfits and spanked each other with a feverish fury until our nipples exploded with delight. That showed him.

Chas then served Metzeler sorbet.....with cat biscuits.

It's fair to say that I got about an hours sleep that night, due to a combination of Kate getting up every hour to check that no-one had stolen her hair, and me suffering with my ridiculously painful back.

When I dragged myself out of the van in the morning, I wanted to kill everyone in the paddock...even if they were nuns.

Jimbers looked at me and said "Alright Tim?"

"No"

"Well it can only get better!"

So true.

The worst thing, was that I was going out in the Allcomers practice at 9:30 just to get a feel for the bike and track again. I realised that it was more technical than I remembered from 2006, but got down to a 1:09 anyway.

DD qually was next, and I went out at the head of the field to try and get some decent laps in.

Chris was on pit wall and inbetween chucking leeks at me to remind me what country we were in, was giving me decent signals that told me I'd gotten down to a 1:08. I decided that would be good enough for front row and that I wanted to go to sleep, so I pulled in.

Andy did twice as many laps, but somehow, I managed my first pole position. Shep's wife Tracey is as competitive as her hubby, and I thought she was gonna poke me in the eyeballs when she saw I'd nicked pole. "You bugger!" was as sporting as she could manage, so I decided to make her feel bad.

"Can't you just be happy for me?" I mewled. She softened, looked a bit ashamed and said "Er, I am, well done!"...he he..bless you Trace.

I then went to the van and went to sleep...totally knackered.

The first race came around super fast, and if it weren't for Kate and Chris telling me that the race was 15 minutes early, I'd have been in a right stress at the last minute...thanks guys!!

Now I just KNEW that Shep was going to want to take the title with a win, cos he can't help himself. My attitude was that he'd have to come and get it.

The flag start was a little weird, but I timed it right and got away well with my usual Otei start.

The first couple of laps were a stinky mess, and I just didn't seem to be able to find my rhythm, riding really scrappily. This let Shep catch me on the brakes into the hairpin and he tried a move round the outside. I gassed it up on the exit and forced my way back through. To be honest, I shut the door pretty hard as I knew he'd be a sod to pass if he got past. It wasn't until I read his race report that I realised he'd had to inspect the daisies abit, cos he never mentioned it afterwards, although I did apologise for the close move.

He wasn't far behind on the next lap, so I got my head down and started to pull about half a second a lap (don't listen to Shep saying he was gaining ground, he always says that LOL!) and suddenly got a gap that went from just over 2 seconds to 7 seconds. It turned out that he'd come within a gnats **** of throwing it down the road and handing me a chance at the title. Riding for the win is brave, but sometimes you have to settle, and he realised that and brought it home to take a well earned championship.

Everyone heard what I had to say about the way he's ridden this year, and I meant it. It's been an honour to race against and occasionally beat such a complete racer.

Race 2 was a speedily arrived at affair, although it'd have come round alot sooner for Shep if they'd been trying to piece the bike back together from a crash at Honda curve, rather than the extremely lucky get out that he'd managed.

I still had second place in the championship to wrap up, and considering that I'd been riding on old tyres this wekend, I told Chris that if he came past, I would only push to a certain level before conceding and making sure of 2nd in the championship.

I got away well once more and pulled nearly 2 seconds in the first 3 laps. Imagine my utter amazement then, to see Chris waving at me to take it easy and seeing Shep standing at the hairpin with marshalls, the scrape marks of his obvious get off scarring the Welsh tarmac. Talk about crashing at the right time.

To be honest, I had felt better than the first race, and reckoned I could have gone quicker. I decided to kep my pace as it would be all too easy to crash by slowing down.

I then nearly crashed at Dibeni...so I slowed down...far too much and dropped 4 seconds to Will behind me.

" better speed up again" I thought and managed to keep the gap static for my first double of the year. It was a bit soiled by the fact that Shep was standing and watching, but I think he'd agree that I deserved the double...god knows he should have shared them out a bit more fairly this year! ;)

So then, Cadwell next, and if it's dry, I shall be making an all out assault on the lap record. I probably won't get withing a second of it now, but I'll give it a go.

Thanks to all, congrats to Shep.

Word!